Outside Lands: big names, bigger sound

Stevie Wonder takes the Lands End Stage at the 2012 Outside Lands Music Festival in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, Calif., Sunday, August 12, 2012.

Stevie Wonder takes the Lands End Stage at the 2012 Outside Lands Music Festival in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, Calif., Sunday, August 12, 2012.

Photo: Jason Henry, Special To The Chronicle

Photo: Jason Henry, Special To The Chronicle

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Stevie Wonder takes the Lands End Stage at the 2012 Outside Lands Music Festival in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, Calif., Sunday, August 12, 2012.

Stevie Wonder takes the Lands End Stage at the 2012 Outside Lands Music Festival in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, Calif., Sunday, August 12, 2012.

Photo: Jason Henry, Special To The Chronicle

Outside Lands: big names, bigger sound

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Metallica singer James Hetfield annihilated years of delicate negotiations between the promoters of the Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival and aggrieved neighbors around Golden Gate Park during his band's headline set on Saturday. It wasn't the elaborate pyrotechnics display that sent flames shooting high above the Polo Field or the tree-trembling guitar solos - although they probably didn't help.

Mentioning how a friend heard the battle-scarred Bay Area metal quartet sound check from his Richmond District house earlier in the day, the spiky-haired frontman decided that rocking the mere 65,000 people attending the sold-out concert wasn't satisfactory.

"We're playing for the whole Bay Area!" he shouted. "HOPE YOU CAN HEAR US!"

How could they not? Metallica was easily the loudest band to grace the main stage in Outside Lands' five-year run as it plied with renewed ferocity through classic songs such as "Master of Puppets" and "Enter Sandman," with the only close competition coming from the previous night's headliners, Foo Fighters and Neil Young and Crazy Horse.

Oh, well. The heat from Metallica's fireworks show at least offered those close enough to the stage a reprieve from the frigid winds that often overshadowed the music through the weekend.

Emphasis on variety

In an effort to seal Outside Lands' reputation as one of the major players on the nation's music festival circuit, Another Planet Entertainment splurged on the big-name headliners this year, and they largely delivered.

On the Polo Field on Friday, Beck and Foo Fighters reminisced about their appearances at the Free Tibet concert in the park in 1996 and played back-to-back sets loaded with hits from the Clinton era for an audience that largely missed them the first time around: "Loser," "Everlong," "Where It's At" and so on.

From its launch in 2008, Outside Lands has emphasized variety. Throughout the weekend, fans had to make difficult scheduling choices: the fuzzy folk of San Francisco's Two Gallants on the Lands End Stage or the tongue-in-cheek hip-hop of Oakland's Wallpaper on the Twin Peaks Stage over in Hellman Hollow? Franz Ferdinand or Caveman?

Alabama Shakes a hit

The one act all 65,000 people seemed to agree on seeing Saturday was Alabama Shakes, a bookish Southern quartet led by Brittany Howard that played an earnest set of Muscle Shoals-style rock to a curiously rapt audience in the middle of the afternoon. Even after the band tossed out its most popular song, "Hold On," at the top of the set, nobody budged until the last note was played. Possibly because it was physically impossible.

A couple drawbacks: The larger crowds this year meant that actually seeing a band perform - just on a purely visual level - required strategic planning by camping out in front of the designated stage for at least an hour or two before it went on, missing many of the festival's frills and other musical attractions. Otherwise, it was a sightline filled with nothing but the backs of people's heads and arms raised with smartphones.

Wind muffles music

Also, the wind severely muffled the typically excellent sound system. Many of the main stage acts were barely audible from the back of the field - maybe a foil for Hetfield and a boost for the community but a total bummer for the people who shelled out big bucks for three-day tickets. Passion Pit's sleek indie-rock grooves sounded like they were blasting out of an old AM radio.

The sun finally broke through the gloom for Jack White's set Sunday. The White Stripes frontman - making his return to the festival after a previous appearance with his side project, the Dead Weather - performed a couple of his old band's staples and songs from his Nashville-produced solo album, "Blunderbuss." Facing the crowd on the Polo Field he said, "It's not going to bother anyone if we play a country song, right?"

Decisions, decisions

Why not? The audience had already raced around the park earlier in the day to hear the Afro-pop of Amadou and Mariam; politi-folk of Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello; and stylish Brooklyn electro-funk of Santigold. This crowd was up for anything.

The only real dilemma on the closing night was choosing between Stevie Wonder's decades-spanning hit stream or Skrillex's of-the-moment dubstep beats on the opposite end of the park. For many, it was actually a tough decision.

Online: Visit SFGate.com for an Outside Lands photo gallery and more coverage of the weekend.